A crew of more than 100 volunteers are helping people access the benefits they’re entitled to at Mangere Work and Income this week, with large queues forming outside the premises from 6.30am. … Spokeswoman Sue Bradford said even the group’s most seasoned advocates were surprised at the number of people waiting when they arrived to start work on Tuesday.
…
“This week our crew of over a hundred volunteers are doing everything possible to help people access the assistance to which they’re entitled,” Ms Bradford said.

“Ideally people should be receiving their full entitlements from Work and Income as a matter of course. “Instead we are seeing hundreds of people in desperate need, often with no food in the house, and not even the most basic of household equipment like beds, a washing machine or a fridge.”

She said many people were not getting the full amount of assistance they were entitled to, in situations where $30 to $50 a week more would make a huge difference. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

By lunchtime on Tuesday the group had to turn people away, as so many were already waiting.

It is shameful that people are not getting the support they need. Bravo and thanks to the volunteers for doing a job that should not be necessary.

Sue Bradford (along with CEO of the Mangere Budgeting Service Darryl Evans, Child Poverty Action Group Economy Spokesperson Susan St John) were interviewed by Waatea 5th Estate on this – see the video here (ht Maui).

On poverty see also the talk “Hearing The Voices Of Our children” by National Advocacy Manager at UNICEF NZ, Deborah Russel, in Wellington. Video here.

Update:

Video here of what happened yesterday morning at AAAP impact when we were faced with having to turn many away https://t.co/JAQyJlPAnh

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43 comments on “Shameful tactics on beneficiaries”

Make it as hard as possible, and even harder. That would be Paula Bennett, wouldn’t it? While John Key has a different edict for an ever-so-slightly different group of people: make it as easy as possible, and then even easier.

It is obvious that Key, Bennett, and National have only the best interests of all New Zealanders at heart.

Hey some good coverage on this watch Bomber Bradbury over on the Daily Blog. He did three shows on this on the ‘Fifth Estate’ was very good.I don’t have a link. But if you go to the Daily Blog you can find it easy.

The work of volunteers is commendable but they should be also fighting to make the system more accessible – easier forms, more transparent information at the WINZ website. I looked at the WINZ website trying to work out how much I would be entitled to in a hypothetical situation and it was impossible. The website ‘benefits A-Z’ lists a few dozen benefits. Main benefits have more information about them but it is distributed over several sub-sites in short bits, confusing to navigate. Add-on benefits do not have detailed information about entitlements, just very basic information and ‘contact us for more’. This is ridiculous, everyone should be able to just go to the website and work out their entitlements there, and it would save WINZ workers’ time too.

I agree all that is very hard to access and one of the things that WINZ should be sorting out. Not holding my breath 😉

The pages you want to get to are the MAP ones (Manuals and Proceedures). These are the rules and guidelines that WINZ staff themselves have to work with. The easiest way to find them for any benefit is to look at the bottom of every page you open.

You are now in the part of the site that has all the qualifications and should have the formulas they use to calculate payments. It’s still a lot of links and back and forth, but it’s better than the front end of the site which says little and directs people to phone WINZ for an appt.

It’s hard to occupy a web page, crash it maybe – not occupy it. The plan was to show the flaws in the system, and help who we could.

As for fixing the web page, I hope you can take the led on that Astata G as you seem to see the faults there.

My focus was not the web page because I was personally aware, some people have English as second language. Others are not computer literate, and others had disabilities which meant that using a web page was not possible. All of which I was able to advocate for, over the impact.

Also the need is dire, as Sue said, people were camping out. My experience was getting beds for people and getting them off the floor, was the number one need.

Also another personal observation, was the amount of extra suffering that disabled in our community had to endure, because of the systems put in place by this national government.

NOTE!!! I’m only talking for myself and my experience. I’m not talking for, nor on behalf of any of the other volunteers. Nor do I speak for the Auckland Action Against Poverty (AAAP) in any way. If you want any comments from AAAP then you need to ask them directly. I am a private individual who volunteered to help with the impact. My comments are as a private individual who volunteered to help with the impact.

I did not say that you should be doing something about the webpage instead of helping people the way you do. I just think doing both would make sense. You said yourself that there were more people than you could help. You can’t help everybody, and helping people deal with the system without challenging the system can legitimise the system. I know you are fighting for a increase in benefits but in the current political climate this is unlikely. Accessible info on the website (in several languages, like some other govt pages do) is a very reasonable request that would, I imagine, get public support and put WINZ in a difficult situation. Getting help with using a computer form is much easier (go to any CAB, library) than getting help with the esoteric knowledge about benefit entitlements.

We were challenging the system, and that was one of the aims. The system is broken, myself, and I’m sure others who volunteered, plus AAAP will be saying more about the impact in the coming days and weeks.

Please take my challenge up – and take the lead on changing the income support web page. I was not criticising you for what you said, I agree with what you wrote and how you have responded. I just don’t have the time, and have many other projects on the go.

I’d love for it to change, and I think you have the skill set, plus the foresight to see it changed for the better.

Unless it is clear what type of benefit and how much is available for people in need, the WINZ drones can lord over the poor masses and hand out what they deem any person is deserving of it.

Again, in Germany or France for that matter, one can go online and actually calculate what they can get at a minimum.
Newly unemployed in Germany? Once your application is lodged and it is approved (i.e. one has to have worked for a certain time) one can expect 60% of their last net pay.
No fear of fronting up to some worker, who may have poured coffee over her new frock, or got stuck in traffic for several hours or did not get laid last night, who may just simply be of foul humor and who thinks the applicant is not submissive, obedient and downtrodden enough to deserve a generous hand out.
The fact that WINZ employees can literally decide what one receives in itself should be abolished. Clear guidelines as to what is available, how much is available in what circumstances should be made public on the WINZ webpage.
While the benefits in many cases may still not be enough in certain times, it would relieve stress on both the applicant and the case worker.

And for me this is why a UBI is attractive. It takes away the shroud of secrecy and the power individual Winz drones have over people. No bullying, here is your UBI. Here are the forms for top ups if needed.

Maybe its best to couch this in economic terms, because the persecutory right doesn’t seem to understand much else. This is costing us greatly, the stress put on this section of our society, and the associated health problems, depression, obesity, dietary probs, etc. The crime, vandalism, assault, theft, etc that emanates out from these communites. WTF are we doing? WTF have we created here?

Meanwhile the middle classes don’t seem to understand, here they are busily forming groups to paint over any graffiti that sprouts up. This somehow fixes everything. Laughable.

“Why does it take a volunteer organisation like Auckland Action Against Poverty to help people get the benefits that they are entitled to?”

1. because starting in the 1980s, successive governments have taken increasingly punitive approaches to Social Security. They’ve run the economy with a permanent unemployment rate, they’ve undercut workers rights, kept wages low and transformed employment making it much less secure and creating both an underclass and a precariat class. There aren’t enough jobs to go around and in the minds of the political class, in order to still have people willing to work under those conditions they have to be forced. Hence the punitive approach.

2. concurrent with and consequent to that, NZ as a society has increasingly villified people on benefits as lazy, bludgers, people ripping off the system etc. People who create policy and people who staff WINZ are part of that society and there has been an increase within the departments of these attitudes.

3. multiple piecemeal semi-restructuring within WINZ that has been designed to reduce costs and to allow more coersion of beneficiaries rather than creating effiency in teh system alongside supporting people in need, has created a system that is hugely complex, that many people don’t understand (including WINZ workers), and that is probably impossible to fix.

4. WINZ is understaffed.

5. there is a long history of Work and Income and its predecessors not informing clients of their entitlements. So people in need could get entitlements if they knew what to ask for, but if they didn’t WINZ staff often wouldn’t tell them. Back in the 1990s WINZ (or whatever it was called then) got taken to the High Court over this and lost. Since then it has had an onus to provide the information up front, but that has been applied very unevenly. People who know how to navigate the system and have the capacity to self-advocate do far better than those that don’t.

6. benefit cuts (1990 and then the later removal of the hardship grant Special Benefit) mean that there really isn’t enough money to meet people’s needs, so people are having to keep reingaging with the dysfunctional system. The more this happens the more the government reacts by trying to tinker with the broken system and the worse it gets.

7. All of the above applies to NZ governments irrespective of which party is in power.

8. Since 2008, National have taken all this to a whole new level, far worse than anything that was going on before. They are actively changing the culture (“welfare is an addiction”) and backing that up with legislation that is not only punitive but also is creating a class of people who are treated separately from other NZ citizens.

9. asking for help from WINZ is often a humiliating experience. It’s usually frustrating, often extremely so. It’s not unusual for people to be reduced to tears, have panic attacks and anxiety, and occasionally resort to violence (there’s some research to be done there on domestic violence following engagement with WINZ). As a consequence many people avoid WINZ until they are desparate, often using up any existing cash or assets so that by the time they ask for help they are in crisis. That makes their situation more complex, and because of all the things above, it gets harder to resolve.

10. The humiliation from WINZ and the wider society makes it much harder for people to ask for help that they are entitled to.

11. under the neoliberal and then more recent proto-fascist revolutions, it’s been increasingly hard for benefit advocacy groups to survive. They do very important work and need far more support than they are getting. Yes we need government to change and make changes, but tbh I don’t see Labour or probably even the GP making this a priority for a while. In the meantime beneficiares desparately need independent advocacy services funded well enough to be doing what AAAP are doing. We also need grass roots activism and political lobbying.

Just in case you wanted the question answered 😉 That’s not a comprehensive list.

with respect to your assertion that these problems were present regardless of which party was in power, i have had experiences with winz, both under jenny siplys government and helen clarks. the culture within winz during shipleys reign was perceptably toxic. both my partner and i, on graduating from tertiary study applied for the emergency benefit and were confronted with condescension and outright hostility, our caseworker was reluctant to help and actually suggested we were lazy bludgers. she made my partner cry on our first appointment. later i had to apply again when deciding to take up post grad study and had to find part time employment to support my self. i was apprehensive. however i found the culture had changed and i now had a sympathetic and dedicated case worker who made an effort to understand my situation and ensured that i had access to all the entitlements that i qualified for. this was in the clark years.

Hi aidan, I tend to agree with that and it matches my experience, although I would qualify it.

Labour cut the hardship grant Special Benefit. That’s as bad as the Shipley cuts in the early 90s.

I also find that the culture improves under Labour, but I’m one of the people how knows how to negotiate the system. I’m not sure how much the culture change benefits people who are far worse off than I am, the truly vulnerable, and those who for whatever reason are unable to self-advocate. Even of those that are there are still people who don’t know their entitlements and don’t get told. I’ve heard it described as National stab you in the front, Labour stab you in the back. It doesn’t surprise me that improvements happen to education and creative self-employment entitlements and support under Labour but that people who are at the really desperate end of the spectrum are still falling through the gaps.

There is a huge variation in service across the country and depending on who you get in any office.

So in general I’d say definitely we are better off with Labour, no doubt, but that doesn’t mean that Labour don’t create huge problems alongside the good things they do.

I don’t see Labour being inclusive of beneficiary wellbeing in their policies currently, although Little will sometimes make statements about how their initiatives about about the wellbeing of ALL NZers. Much of Labour and GP policy is focussed on child welfare. Neither will talk openly about beneficiary rights. That doesn’t bode well.

Labour voted for a piece of punitive National legislation last year. David Shearer as Labour Leader engaged in direct and overt beneficiary bashing and cultural reinforcement of bludger memes in 2012. I’ve not seen Labour do anything to correct that.

one of the big things for me that stand out in the difference between Labour and National are the ads during the Labour years about accessing benefits and going back to school/work programmes.
They were positive, up-beat, and again maybe not for all people, but suitable for some.
They were constantly on TV. Advertising for Adult Education evening education, and so on.

I have invited a job broker last year to my shop to talk about a full time position this year. That was the most surreal thing in my life ever. It was as if i were speaking to an alien. All was well, there are no record number of jobless, or beneficiaries, all the Winz staff wants is to find ‘careers’ for their staff paying at least 18 – 20 $ per hour – as she explained we don’t want to just get them jobs we want them to get of the benefit – and what nots.
End of the discussion, she never came back to me until the new year, several month had past, to tell me glibly that she went on holiday for 6 weeks and misplaced her notes about our discussion and are you still looking for someone?

I just laughed at her, and essentially told her that if this is the best Winz can do i feel sorry for anyone needing her services.

In the meantime i had split my full time position between my two part timers that were more then happy for the extra hours.

Just fucking pathetic, and I do believe that the WINZ drones themselves have no reason to make it easy on themselves or their ‘clients’ lest they loose their own jobs, and suddenly they too are ‘clients’ in search of a benefit.

in addition the clark government innitiated programmes and grants to encourage and support people in becoming successfully self employed, especially in creative industry (design/ art/music) these were later gutted and made more or less inaccessable to many when bennet became minister. i went to winz to make enquieries agout programmes i knew existed and was stonewalled at reception when i tried to make an appointment. to find out more. once again as soon as set foot in the door i was met whith an adversarial, hostile reception.

Thanks for that list Weka. Number 8 on your list is worth highlighting, because the vilification of beneficiaries under this government exceeds anything that came before it – they have picked up on a minor prejudice and nurtured it to become a major one. When you put this together with the lack of clarity around beneficiaries’ rights, you end up with a group that everyone is free to vilify, but who is not free to defend itself for fear of sanctions.

“they have picked up on a minor prejudice and nurtured it to become a major one.”

Yes, the media have run with it and spoon fed this growing prejudice by indulging haters in the comments sections of various online news media. It’s been free rein with the kick em when they’re down group, which has surely contributed to normalising a feeling of public contempt towards anyone on a any form of benefit regardless of their circumstances.

Olwyn I hadn’t read this originally but was catching up on Mary’s story and gosh it is bad to read about every time.

In about 1990 I noted a Polytechnic tutor who was one of those bright, go ahead types who had skills, had worked hard and done well, and very self satisfied and full of aspirational approach, run down beneficiaries to the class. I was surprised at the depth of disgust in the young people I met from this class back in 1990. The scapegoating was well under way then, while the economy was being dismantled for a brave new world of neo liberal business that would lift us into new jobs and a new way of doing things = better. Dizzney story.

One beneficiary had got into the news for paying too much for something and her name was mud. But wealthy people can take others criminally for millions. They aren’t so easy to villify somehow. Better to pick on some little person not doing well. It is as if financial criminals are admired because they are aiming high, not like those low petty shoplifters and unemployed.

I feel saddened by your review of how WINZ operates but particularly saddened by your point at 9.

It is wrong that advocacy groups need to exist in the first place. It’s all back to front. As well as appropriate and timely financial support clients also should be provided with personal support so they are encouraged to use WINZ, and made to feel welcome and safe. This is a first line duty to it’s people that a government should be responsible for. It’s says a lot about winz’s service that there needs to be an army of volunteers to do their work for them.

(This may sound naive but what ever happened to the notion of equality? We all need to be respected, treated with compassion and served equally no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, in life).

Am just dealing with WINZ at the moment. Acting as my mothers agent due to her Huntingtons Disease related dementia and her deafness I have applied for a residential subsidy for her hospital care. My brother is her power of attorney and helped with the paperwork but was so overwhelmed by it, and I’ve no head for numbers, that he handed the application over to his accountant to deal with.

The application was sent off with all the relevant items of verification but I’ve just had a letter back saying they have declined her application because there was no verification, among a few other points that contradict her documented reality.

Been there, done that, Rosie, and the only advice I can offer is take good care of yourself and that means being unashamed about using respite services too, contact and make use of Age Concern and the Alzheimer Association, get to know and be able to name names – from the gerontologist and their aged care team, your mum’s GP and care staff through to individual WINZ staff, wheedle direct dial numbers out of all those you deal with, communicate with and, and I can’t stress this enough, share the load with family members and be persistent.

It is a bit overwhelming but we do have some good supports. It’s a relief that Mum is finally, permanently in hospital. (It’s an Arron Bhatnager Palace for the Aged). I had been pleading with the geriatrician for months to refer Mum to hospital due to Mum’s inability to care for herself in her unit, her frequent falls and the fact that her daily care from Enliven was inadequate but it took one terrible fall, after days of falls before any one did anything.

There is also a field worker from the Huntingtons Disease Association that has been remarkable. She has provided us with useful contacts and has advocated on Mum’s behalf. As for sharing the load, I’m afraid I’ve been dragging the chain. I live in a different town from Mum, am too unwell to drive long distance at the moment and don’t have the $$$ for petrol anyway, so the others are very grumpy with me.

I can at least be persistent with WINZ, as Mum’s agent.

I hope that you were well supported during your time caring for an unwell elder.

“long history of Work and Income … not informing clients of their entitlements”

100% correct. I was made redundant in 2010 (at the age of 60) with no redundancy pay as the firm went bust. I was not fully paid in the three months prior to that. WINZ told me I was entitled to an Accommodation Supplement (like, that’s all), even though I had 3 kids at home under 18 and my wife worked about 15 hours a week.

This was the first time I have had as interaction with WINZ and I did not know the score (then!). Fortunately I met an old friend who had actually worked there many years ago and he advocated for me and, lo and behold – Unemployment Benefit – 2 YEARS LATER!

Craig H
I couldn’t agree more. A very had position to be put in for the WINZ officer, on the one hand they can make a judgment and on the other there is a moral hazard in that they get sanctioned if over a target or a bonus of some sort if they limit the amounts paid under their cases.

A soul destroying job. The guards at concentration camps managed to justify themselves and these people are paid to be cold, unresponsive or false, and take the attitude that people are lying or wasters.

The inaccessibility, humiliation of applicants and paucity of publicly-available information at WINZ is not caused by a lack of resources or incompetence. I believe it is instead a completely deliberate strategy to minimise payments using extralegal means.

it is a sad video to watch.
Reminds me of the documentaries from the US when they have the Medical Teams go to poor areas to offer free dental care and the likes and people start camping out days ahead just to get their teeth removed.

Shameful was the right word to use in the post title. That video made me feel so sadly outraged I felt a bit teary.

The volunteers are true angels. The young guy seemed, understandably, a little overwhelmed. Witnessing such hardship on such a large scale will have an impact. How sad it is that his generation know nothing of the more equal society we once had.

work income capped the amount people you can help what kind of rubbish is that
winz need to be subjected to some aggressive protest action. i can see why tully had to use a shot gun to get help winz are totally ineffective
and this is in the twilight of the rock star economy what going happen when the economic bubbles burst and hit main street winz just aren’t up to the job
winz are there to act as a road block

the faster we move to a UBI the better a software dot that can cope and remove the the barriers to assistance

Winz is a degrading & abusive institution. It drags thousands through the courts every year, I was unfortunate to be one of them.
I am not saying i did everything perfect at winz, but I did not deserve to be dragged through the hell that I did by this barbaric and cruel system.
I believe I was one of their victims as I own my own home & the investigator must of thought I was easy game to fatten her wallet, as they get a commission for the amount of debt they create for beneficiaries.
This investigator interegated me for six months, then dumped a huge ‘overpayment’ of which i was absolutely shocked. By principle I decided I was not paying this unfair amount, she then proceeded to prosecute me knowing it would have a huge stressful influence and may even mean the end of my profession.
When I asked for a review of this debt, as a bully tactic she added another $5000 to her already large debt, therefore I withdrew the review & it changed back.
I regularly suspended my U.benefit when I had enough casual work to survive. I even asked winz to cancel my benefit once & they said ‘No’, as you dont have a stable income & how will you cover your mortgage & rates etc?
Winz prosecuted me with 4 charges stating I deceived them saying i was ‘not working’.
Not working?, I declared this many many times & it was on all my U.B applications I had casual work only, and all my case managers knew it and knew me personally?
I now also have to pay back several thousands for a lawyer to defend this in court.
In court both the investigator & MSD prosecuter both lied and exagerated the amount I had earned, – I could not believe it, Is this really how low beurocrats go to do their job?
I hope the wheels of cruelty begin to turn back on some of these nasty individuals, and they get a good taste of their own poisonous medicine.
God help all who get targeted by Winz. Many are just pawns in this evil & corrupt system. I am so glad to be totally free from their so called assistance. Even the case managers refused to just tell the truth of what I told them & help me. One I saw smiling in delight when they saw me in trouble, and they joined the others in court.
BTW, I am now doing well by Gods grace. After a two year major negative assault on my health and wellbeing. I still find days difficult to get my head around this nightmare, but choose to focus on the good that is ahead of me & be thankful this experience will only make me stronger.

Every WINZ client has an annual review, set of forms, sent to them.
Every one of those sent set of forms, doesn’t include a post paid return envelope that we typically see with other government agencies.

This is a simple sign of how WINZ makes it their objective to make it difficult for even a beneficiary who is disabled to have their benefit cancelled because they can’t put a form in an envelope and put a stamp on it.

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Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...

Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...

by Daphna Whitmore Every Sunday for the past two months unionists from First Union, with supporters from other unions, have set out to the Ihumatao land protest, put up gazebos and gas barbeques, and cooked food for a few hundred locals and supporters who have come from across the country. ...

Newsroom today has an excellent, in-depth article on pine trees as carbon sinks. The TL;DR is that pine is really good at soaking up carbon, but people prefer far-less efficient native forests instead. Which is understandable, but there's two problems: firstly, we've pissed about so long on this problem that ...

Canan Kaftancioglu is a Turkish politician and member of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). Like most modern politicians, she tweets, and uses the platform to criticise the Turkish government. She has criticised them over the death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit by a tear gas grenade during ...

Hi there, just call me Tim.We face tough problems, and I’d like to help, because there are solutions.An Auckand District Health Board member has nominated me for as a candidate for the ADHB, because her MS-related pain and fatigue is reduced with hemp products from Rotorua. Nothing else helped her. If I ...

The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security has published their report on whether the SIS and GCSB had any complicity in American torture. And its damning. The pull quote is this:The Inquiry found both agencies, but to a much greater degree, the NZSIS, received many intelligence reports obtained from detainees who, ...

Bewhiskered Cassandra? Professor Hugh White’s chilling suggestion, advanced to select collections of academic, military and diplomatic Kiwi experts over the course of the past week, is that the assumptions upon which Australia and New Zealand have built their foreign affairs and defence policies for practically their entire histories – are ...

For most of the time I was a British MP, my party was out of government – these were the Thatcher years, when it was hard for anyone else to get a look-in. As a front-bencher and shadow minister, I became familiar with the strategies required in a parliamentary democracy ...

by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh On August 29th a video in which veteran FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) commander Iván Márquez announced that they had taken up arms again was released. There was no delay in the reaction to it, from longtime Liberal Party figure and former president Uribe, for ...

Air New Zealand couldn’t believe its luck that this seemingly ideal piece of real estate had so far gone entirely unnoticed. Air New Zealand’s search for a site to build a second Auckland Airport may have made a breakthrough this afternoon, after employees scanning Google satellite imagery spotted a huge, ...

No-one on the anti-capitalist left in this country today puts forward a case that Labour is on the side of the working class. There are certainly people who call themselves ‘socialist’ who do, but they are essentially liberals with vested interests in Labourism – often for career reasons. Nevertheless, there ...

When National was in government and fucking over the poor for the benefit of the rich, foodbanks were a growth industry. And now Labour is in charge, nothing has changed: A huge demand for emergency food parcels means the Auckland City Mission is struggling to prepare for the impending arrival ...

Gayford, pictured here on The Project, before things got wildly out of control. A bold public relations move by the Government to encourage parents to vaccinate their children has gone horribly wrong. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern appeared on tonight’s episode of Three’s The Project, where the plan was for her ...

Mr. Whippy’s business model has driven it down a dark road of intimidation. Residents in major centres around the country are becoming disgruntled by the increasingly aggressive actions of purported ice cream company Mr. Whippy, who have taken to parking on people’s front lawns and doorsteps in a desperate attempt ...

Today the government released its Action Plan for Healthy Waterways, aimed at cleaning up our lakes and rivers. Its actually quite good. There will be protection for wetlands, better standards for swimming spots, a requirement for continuous improvement, and better standards for wastewater and stormwater. But most importantly, there's a ...

Today I appeared before the Environment Committee to give an oral submission on the Zero Carbon Bill. Over 1,500 people have asked to appear in person, so they've divided into subcommittees and are off touring the country, giving people a five minute slot each. The other submitters were a mixed ...

Anti-fluoride activists have some wealthy backers – they are erecting billboards misrepresenting the Canadian study on many New Zealand cities – and local authorities are ordering their removal because of their scaremongering. Many New Zealanders ...

So, those who “know best” have again done their worst. While constantly claiming to be the guardians of democracy and the constitution, and respecters of the 2016 referendum result, diehard Remainers (who have never brought themselves to believe that their advice could have been rejected) have striven might and main ...

Following publication of this article, the Ministry has requested it to be noted that this supplied image is not necessarily representative of what the final house will look like, and it “probably won’t be that nice.” As part of today’s long-anticipated reset of the Government’s flagship KiwiBuild policy, Housing Minister ...

Over the next week or two we will be running three synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Marx began Capital not with a sweeping historical ...

The State Services Commission and Ombudsman have released another batch of OIA statistics, covering the last six months. Request volumes are up, and the core public service is generally handling them within the legal timeframe, though this may be because they've learned to extend rather than just ignore things. And ...

In 1994, I was editing an ambitious street mag called Planet, from a fabled office at at 309 Karangahape Road. The thirteenth issue of the magazine was published in the winter of that year and its cover embodied a particularly ambitious goal: the end of cannabis prohibition.I wanted to do ...

KiwiBuild was one of the Ardern government's core policies. The government would end the housing crisis and make housing affordable again by building 100,000 new homes. Of course, it didn't work out like that: targets weren't met, the houses they did build were in the wrong place, and the whole ...

As the climate crisis escalates, it is now obvious that we need to radically decarbonise our economy. The good news is that its looking easy and profitable for the energy sector. Wind is already cheaper than fossil fuels, and now solar is too:The levellised cost of solar PV has fallen ...

A Crown Asset? For reasons relating to its own political convenience, the Crown pretends to believe that “No one owns the water.” To say otherwise would re-vivify the promises contained in the Treaty of Waitangi – most particularly those pertaining to the power of the chiefs and their proprietary rights ...

Most people would say, no doubt, that they have a pretty good idea of what money is. They live with the reality of money every day. It is what is needed to buy the necessities of life and to maintain a decent standard of living. You get money, they would ...

The article below was an opinion piece that appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of Te Awa (the NZ Green Party’s newsletter) and on the Greens website. In keeping with their policy of hostility to women defending women’s right to female-only spaces, Green bureaucrats have since removed the opinion piece. ...

Longer term readers may remember my complaining that, as a political scientist, it is burdensome to have non-political scientists wanting to engage me about politics. No layperson would think to approach an astrophysicist and lecture him/her on the finer details of quarks and black holes, but everybody with an opinion ...

Joining The Fight: Stevan Eldred-Grigg's argument for New Zealand staying out of the Second World War fails not only on the hard-headed grounds of preserving the country’s strategic and economic interests; and not just on the soft-hearted grounds of duty and loyalty to the nation that had given New Zealand ...

On September 27, School Strike 4 Climate will be striking for a future to pressure the government for meaningful climate action. This time, they've asked adults to join them. And now, Lincoln University and Victoria University of Wellington have signed on:Victoria University of Wellington has joined Lincoln University in endorsing ...

Another day, another constitutional outrage in the UK. This time, the government is saying that if parliament passes a law to stop Brexit before being prorogued, they may just ignore it:A senior cabinet minister has suggested Boris Johnson could defy legislation to prevent a no-deal Brexit if it is forced ...

Dum-de-doo. Children across New Zealand have known him for generations as the lovable giraffe who tells them to exercise, hydrate and not to shove lit cigarettes up their nostrils. But a world renowned giraffe expert says we shouldn’t be getting attached to Life Education’s Harold the Giraffe, as he is ...

By Mike Hosking. Yesterday morning, I waltzed into work, and as I walked past the drones aggressively typing out news on the computers I’ve repeatedly asked to be moved further away from, I caught a glimpse of the words “climate change”, and noticed that suspiciously they weren’t in condescending quotation ...

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National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett spent the week claiming a serious cover-up in the Prime Minister's office. She used parliamentary privilege to name three of the Prime Minister's closest advisors who, she says, knew about the sexual assault ...

“The Game Animal Council is concerned that the Government’s second tranche of firearms legislation released today may contain unreasonable provisions that will unfairly impact hunters,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. ...

Government policy work on the Carbon Zero bill highlights connections between climate change, carbon sequestration and agriculture. Water quality and allocation are also topical with the release of the Draft Policy Statement for Freshwater Management ...

DairyNZ Chief Executive Dr Tim Mackle is welcoming this afternoon’s announcement that consultation on Essential Freshwater has been extended by two weeks - but is calling on the Minister to go further. ...

Immigration New Zealand could really benefit from an large investment of money, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the immigration sector. “Instead of spending $25m ...

In recent times there has been no shortage of commentary regarding whistleblowers, with the proposed amendments to the Protected Disclosures Act 2000. These are aimed at strengthening the protection available to whistleblowers in New Zealand. That ...

Gun Control NZ strongly welcomes the comprehensive gun law reform bill and calls on all political parties to support it. Gun Control NZ encourages New Zealanders to let their MPs know they support this Bill, submit to the Select Committee, and ...

Federated Farmers agrees with most of the steps by government to protect people from illegal or irresponsible firearms use. But concerns about pest control and the effectiveness of a register remain. ...

Today at Parliament the NZ Drug Foundation released Taking control of cannabis: A model for responsible regulation, a new report that shows how we can take back control of cannabis from organised crime. ...

Smoking kills 5,000 Kiwis each year, so any government policies to help reduce smoking are a good thing. However, the current approaches are not working nor will the proposed limit on flavoured e-liquid that Associate Minister Salesa announced on the news ...

A petition, that promises a significant and dramatic improvement for the New Zealand economy, was handed to Dr Deborah Russell, the MP for New Lynn today. The petition, signed by over 5,000 New Zealanders addresses our crippling level of debt as well ...

The New Zealand Medical Association welcomes the announcement of an Initial Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission. We look forward to working with the newly appointed Chair Hayden Wano and the Commission. “It is vital that the steps to mental health ...

For anyone who even randomly follows the news will know that Hong Kong has been embroiled in demonstrations for months. These sometimes bloody demonstrations initially started as a result of a proposed Extradition Bill whereby there would be special ...

The release yesterday of Port Otago’s financial result for 2019, outlining a 12% increase and profits, including the news that the Chief Executive had received a $100,000 pay increase taking his remuneration to between $610,000-620,000, is like ...

“ I continue to be amazed at the incompetence of this Government when it comes to suicide prevention and mental health. Not only is this Government about to appoint a regional coroner who has a history of under reporting suicides amongst children ...

The Far North District Council (FNDC) and the Whangarei District Council (WDC) have lodged a joint appeal against the Northland Regional Council’s (NRC) omission of precautionary rules in its plan. [1] ...

The Chairman of the Authority, Judge Colin Doherty, has agreed to assist the Hong Kong Independent Police Complaints Council (IPCC) as a member of an international panel to provide high level advice to the IPCC in relation to its proposed "Thematic ...

“Putting families into motels is a temporary fix for desperate situations, rather than a sustainable solution to problems of poverty and homelessness,” says Scott Figenshow, Chief Executive of Community Housing Aotearoa. He was commenting on media ...

The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) says the current partial strike by 600 psychologists working in district health boards is a sign that temporary fixes to ongoing workforce shortages in the profession are not working. ...

New Zealand’s contribution to military operations in Malaya and Malaysia from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s will be commemorated in a national service held at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park at 11.00am on Monday 16 September. ...

The resignation of the President of the Labour Party over the sex pest allegations was inevitable. It was inevitable because of his appalling handling of the situation so far; and, because in situations like this where there has to be a “fall guy” ...

Yesterday Hon Grant Robertson Minister of Finance issued a welcome ‘clear directive’ in the press to ensure every Government considers the wellbeing of New Zealanders when creating future budgets . ...

The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa has written to Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters today urging that New Zealand condemn the Israeli Prime Minister’s planned annexation of vast tracts of the occupied West Bank of Palestine. ...

Today Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence (NPM) releases its next Te Arotahi paper calling on government to pay even closer attention to the issues of whānau and whakapapa within the criminal justice system. ...

“Technology adoption supports higher productivity growth, higher income growth and increased resources to pay for the things New Zealanders’ value. But the main problem facing New Zealand today isn’t too much technology, it’s not enough,” ...

Federated Farmers is asking nicely - please can the Government immediately extend the timeframe of the Essential Freshwater consultation so we can find a pathway forward that provides for both the health of the water, the health of people and the health ...

Youthline applauds the Government’s commitment to boosting mental health and addiction programmes and its intention to establish a Suicide Prevention Office but we urge swifter action in relation to implementing the programmes announced in the last budget ...

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An Auckland mayoral candidate has broken the internet* by announcing a plan for a monorail around the central city. Who is Craig Lord, and is he serious? Alex Braae spoke to him shortly after his campaign launch to find out.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. ...

Antibiotics are becoming increasingly less effective, so what treatments can we use when the drugs stop working? With help from plant extracts, award-winning company HerbScience is set to breathe new life into how we treat bacterial infections.When Cynthia Hunefeld was just 10 years old, her father was hospitalised with a ...

For some, it symbolises the very backbone of New Zealand’s food culture. But can Kiwi onion dip survive after the factory that makes reduced cream is shut down?The Australian factory that makes Nestlé reduced cream, an integral ingredient in Kiwi onion dip, is shutting down, casting a shadow over the ...

Every year Matariki X brings Māori innovators and entrepreneurs together to share their experiences and inspire one another. Callaghan Innovation’s Vinnie Campbell says the Māori economy’s biggest strengths have nothing to do with money.This story was funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The ...

Today marks the start of Covering Climate Now. To launch the week, the New Zealand climate change minister, James Shaw, writes an open letter to participants in the School Strike 4 Climate ahead of their day of action later this month.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is thanks to ...

National’s new agriculture spokesperson finds himself in one of the party’s most important portfolios, at a time of dramatically increasing tensions in the sector. Will Todd Muller, a man regularly mentioned as a future leader contender, find common ground?Todd Muller’s obsession with politics began with an American encyclopaedia, which his ...

Miss June’s Bad Luck Party was recorded literally between hospital shifts, and their summer schedule includes both festival dates and their frontwoman’s graduation from medical school. We sat down with the band to ask just how, exactly, they’ve survived so far.The first years of life for Tāmaki Makaurau pop-punk quartet ...

The following four short extracts are from A City Possessed: The Christchurch Child Crèche Case by Lynley Hood, which has just been reprinted by Otago University Press. The book was first published in 2001 and won the Montana Medal for Non-Fiction at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. The controversial ...

Hamilton councillors have drawn headlines this year for being anti-science and insensitive to terror victims. At a mayoral debate on Wednesday, there were signs a campaign for change is gathering force.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click ...

The Spinoff editor writes on the story that has engulfed NZ politics this week.One of the very few positive things to come out of a hideous week in New Zealand politics has been the sieving-out of the blinkered, partisan zealots. On one side, those who are ready to conjure up ...

In June 2018, Rawinia Higgins was appointed chairperson of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. She’s the first female and the first te reo Māori second-language speaker to hold the role, and during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, she sat down with The Spinoff to talk about her ...

Compulsory New Zealand history in schools is an exciting opportunity but it’s crucial we’re critical of the stories we tell ourselves, writes Dr Aroha Harris. History is not simply an assemblage of facts and evidence. History is also the interrogation of those things.This may be unsettling news for some, including the ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Senior Research Fellow, Moral philosophy, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University Argument is everywhere. From the kitchen table to the boardroom to the highest echelons of power, we all use argument to persuade, investigate new ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alastair Blanshard, Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics and Ancient History Deputy Head of School, The University of Queensland Comedy often succeeds where tragedy fails. Fangirls, the pop musical which premiered on Thursday night in Brisbane, is not the first drama to explore ...

On the 10th anniversary of the infamous “Imma let you finish” episode, Josie Adams reflects on what this moment revealed about both Taylor Swift and Kanye West.Cast your mind back a decade: 2009 DJ Earworm was still good, Barack Obama was sworn in as president of the US, Israeli ground ...

Analysis - An astounding week in politics has left Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern carrying responsibility for sorting out the mess the Labour Party is in over the sexual assault allegation, writes Peter Wilson. ...

Police Minister Stuart Nash has confirmed details of a new bill that will create a registry of guns, and new offences and penalties for illegal manufacture, trafficking or changing markings of firearms. ...

Charli XCX has just released her latest album, Charli. The futuristic musician is always looking ahead, and so are her fans. We’ve paired each star sign with their perfect Charli XCX song.Charli XCX burst onto the scene in 2012, when she co-wrote and performed electro-pop headbanger ‘I Love It’ with ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benedict Sheehy, Associate professor, University of Canberra British health-care conglomerate Bupa runs more nursing homes in Australia than anyone else. We now know its record in meeting basic standards of care is also worse than any other provider. This is more than ...

Fable is best remembered for the disastrous, over-the-top promises made by its designer Peter Molyneux. But maybe, Adam Goodall argues, we’re remembering it all wrong.“There is something I have to say. And I have to say it because I love making games.” So opens an October 2004 post on the ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh Breakey, Senior Research Fellow, Moral philosophy, Institute for Ethics, Governance & Law, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University Argument is everywhere. From the kitchen table to the boardroom to the highest echelons of power, we all use argument to persuade, investigate new ...

The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Native Son: The Writer’s Memoir by Witi Ihimaera (Penguin Random House, $40)Stand by for a review from ...

Tara Ward delved into Māori TV’s impressive OnDemand catalogue and found some of the best TV taonga for your viewing pleasure. From lifestyle shows to documentaries, from current affairs to reality TV, Māori TV has an abundance of quality telly that celebrates and acknowledges the people, places and cultures of ...

A new poem by London-based poet Morgan Bach.Turning, hurtlingI march diligently to sunshine in the parkeverything bathed and turning golden.A woman breathes fire by the folly framing herlike a personal door to hell. Conkers are pitched from high boughsto break and give up fruit, a spire emergent from the baring ...

Simon Day learns about the history and power of Chinese five-spice. Both the origins of Chinese five-spice and the flavour itself are a little mysterious. My internet investigations revealed the powder’s name could be in reference to the use of five spices (although this often grows to six or seven), or ...

Revelations around alleged sexual assault by a Labour staffer and the party inquiry into his behaviour have dominated the week. Alex Casey and Mihi Forbes join Gone By Lunchtime to survey the damage.Alex Casey, author of the Spinoff feature published on Monday, “A Labour volunteer alleged a violent sexual assault ...

In the fourth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ana Arriola, general manager and partner at Microsoft AI and Research, about ethics and transparency in tech.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To download this ...

Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Labour Party sexual assault allegations Andrea Vance (Stuff): How to make the Labour abuse scandal ...

Toi Kai Rākau Iti, who is running in the Eastern Bay of Plenty Kohi Māori constituency, encounters an unlikely channel of youth engagement.In te ao Māori you’re always looking for tohu, or symbols. They guide you through uncertain territory and help you make sense of the world. The arrival of ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomer Ventura, Senior Lecturer, School of Science and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast The creation of all-male or all-female groups of animals, known as monosex populations, has become a potentially useful approach in aquaculture and livestock rearing. Researchers and those in ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University Predictably, both major political parties are resisting calls this week for a parliamentary conscience vote to declare a climate emergency in Australia. The resistance is unsurprising because both the Coalition and Labor ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Shi, Lecturer, Graduate School of Business and Law, RMIT University If the Religious Discrimination Bill passes into law, women may find it harder to get an abortion. That’s because health practitioners with an objection to performing the procedure on religious grounds ...